“The industrial school for boys is established at Eldora. By act, approved March 31, 1868, the general assembly established a reform school at Salem, Henry county… The law at first provided for the admission of both sexes under eighteen years of age. The trustees were directed to organize a separate school for girls. In 1872 the school for boys was permanently located at Eldora, Hardin county, and some time later the one for girls was established at Mitchellville… The object of the institution is the reformation of juvenile delinquents. It is not a prison. It is a compulsory educational institution. It is a school where wayward and criminal boys and girls are brought under the influence of Christian instructors and taught by example as well as precept the better ways of life. It is a training school, where the moral, intellectual and industrial education of the child is carried on at one and the same time.” [p. 42]

Source: The History of Page County, Iowa: Volume I (1909) by W.L. Kershaw